Cisco Meraki Loses Customer Data in Engineering Gaffe

Cisco has admitted to losing customer data during a configuration change its enginners applied to its Meraki cloud managed IT service. From a report: Specific data uploaded to Cisco Meraki before 11:20 am PT last Thursday was deleted after engineers created an erroneous policy in a configuration change to its US object storage service, Cisco admitted on Friday. The company did say that the issue has been fixed, and while the error will not affect network operations in most cases, it admitted the faulty policy “but will be an inconvenience as some of your data may have been lost.” Cisco hasn’t said how many of its 140, 000+ Meraki customers have been affected. The deleted data includes custom floor plans, logos, enterprise apps and voicemail greetings found on users’ dashboard, systems manager and phones. The engineering team was working over the weekend to find out whether the data can be recovered and potentially build tools so that customers can find out what data has been lost. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Original post:
Cisco Meraki Loses Customer Data in Engineering Gaffe

Amazon Japan’s manga-ready Kindle has 8 times the storage

Amazon Japan has an unusual challenge with the Kindle: it not only has to cater to your typical bookworm, but to a local fondness for image-heavy (and thus storage-intensive) manga books . What it’s going to do? Release a special model just for those readers, apparently. The company has introduced a manga version of the Kindle Paperwhite with 32GB of storage, or eight times as much space as the run-of-the-mill 4GB model. You could cram every single volume of Asari-chan , Kochikame and Naruto into this e-reader, Amazon says. On top of that, a 33 percent faster page turning speed promises to keep you engrossed in your comics. The manga Kindle is available for pre-order now, with pricing commanding a slight premium over the usual Paperwhite. You’re spending ¥16, 280 (about $157), or ¥12, 280 ($118) if you’re an Amazon Prime subscriber. The first units ship October 21st, and the update to improve page turning performance should arrive by the end of the month. As you might gather, it’s not very likely that you’ll see this model elsewhere in the world — when the 4GB in regular Kindles is enough to hold thousands of regular books, Amazon doesn’t have much incentive to boost their capacity any time soon. Source: Amazon Japan (translated 1) , (2)

More:
Amazon Japan’s manga-ready Kindle has 8 times the storage

We Haven’t Seen This Many Comic Books in Stores Since 1996

The comic book industry spent years on the edge of irrelevance, struggling to find an audience after the boom of the 1990s ended. Nowadays, thanks in no small part to the surge in superhero movies, comic book distribution is higher than it’s been in decades. Read more…

See more here:
We Haven’t Seen This Many Comic Books in Stores Since 1996

Use This Blend Mode in Photoshop to Perfectly Align Images

If you’re working on an image in Photoshop that’s cut into numerous sections, sometimes you find yourself needing to carefully align the different layers just by eye. Set one layer to the “difference” blend mode, though, and it’s infinitely easier. This video from Scott Kelby shows how it’s done. Read more…

More here:
Use This Blend Mode in Photoshop to Perfectly Align Images

George Takei Opposes Gay Sulu In ‘Star Trek Beyond’

HughPickens.com writes: Seth Abramovitch reports in the Hollywood Reporter that actor and LGBT activist George Takei says Paramount’s plans to have Sulu’s character in the upcoming ‘Star Trek Beyond’ the first LGBTQ lead character in Star Trek history is out of step with what creator Gene Roddenberry would have wanted. [Roddenberry] “was a strong supporter of LGBT equality, ” says Takei, now 79. “But he said he has been pushing the envelope and walking a very tight rope — and if he pushed too hard, the show would not be on the air.” Takei says he’d much prefer that Sulu stay straight. “I’m delighted that there’s a gay character, ” says Takei. “Unfortunately, it’s a twisting of Gene’s creation, to which he put in so much thought. I think it’s really unfortunate.” The timeline logic of the new revelation is enough to befuddle even the most diehard of Trek enthusiasts, as the rebooted trilogy takes place before the action of the original series. In other words, assuming canon orthodoxy, this storyline suggest Sulu would have had to have first been gay and married, only to then go into the closet years later. Simon Pegg, who has co-written the latest Star Trek movie, as well as starring as Scotty, has responded to criticism by the actor George Takei at the film-makers’ decision to make the character he used to play openly gay. “He’s right, it is unfortunate, it’s unfortunate that the screen version of the most inclusive, tolerant universe in science fiction hasn’t featured an LGBT character until now. We could have introduced a new gay character, but he or she would have been primarily defined by their sexuality, seen as the ‘gay character, ‘ rather than simply for who they are, and isn’t that tokenism?” says Pegg. “Our Trek is an alternate timeline with alternate details. Whatever magic ingredient determines our sexuality was different for Sulu in our timeline. I like this idea because it suggests that in a hypothetical multiverse, across an infinite matrix of alternate realities, we are all LGBT somewhere.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

See the article here:
George Takei Opposes Gay Sulu In ‘Star Trek Beyond’

World’s first 3D-printed office opens in Dubai

The world’s first 3D-printed office building opened this week in Dubai , Reuters reports. The 2, 700-square-foot, single-story building was built in just 17 days using a gigantic, 20-foot tall 3D printer and a special mix of concrete, fiber reinforced plastic and glass fiber reinforced gypsum. Although the “printer” was massive at about two stories tall, 120 feet long and 40 feet wide, it only needed one staffer to make sure it was functioning properly. The rest of the 18-person construction crew consisted of installers, electricians and mechanical engineers who completed the job for a mere $140, 000 in construction and labor costs — or about half the price of a comparable structure built with conventional methods. Of course, the building is more than just another gold star in the UAE’s ultramodern playland — it will also serve, appropriately enough, as the temporary headquarters for the Dubai Future Foundation. Next year, the structure is scheduled to become the home of Dubai’s Museum of the Future . “This is the first 3D-printed building in the world, and it’s not just a building, it has fully functional offices and staff, ” the UAE Minister of Cabinet Affairs, Mohamed Al Gergawi said. According to Gergawi, Dubai plans to have 25 percent of the buildings in the emirate built via 3D printing by the year 2030.

Originally posted here:
World’s first 3D-printed office opens in Dubai

ComiXology Unlimited offers all of the comics for $6 a month

ComiXology, Amazon’s online comic book service, unveiled a new unlimited content subscription option on Tuesday. The $6 per month ComiXology Unlimited plan gives subscribers unfettered access to the service’s entire archive, which includes titles from Image, Dark Horse, IDW and a bunch more — basically every notable publisher outside of Marvel and DC. ComiXology will continue to sell individual issues from the Big Two, it just won’t offer them on the unlimited plan. Via: Android Central Source: Comixology

See more here:
ComiXology Unlimited offers all of the comics for $6 a month

All the Best Comics You’ll Want to Snag on Free Comic Book Day

Tomorrow, May 7, is the happiest day of the year for comics fans: Free Comic Book Day, which is both a celebration of the hobby and a chance to read tons of new comics given away without paying a dime! While some are reprints, most contain awesome new material—and here’s our guide to the very best of this year’s offerings. Read more…

Visit site:
All the Best Comics You’ll Want to Snag on Free Comic Book Day

Check Out the Seriously Gnarly Creatures Discovered at the Bottom of the Mariana Trench

Need a pick-me-up on this dreary Friday afternoon? After checking out some of the nightmare-inducing life forms NOAA’s deep-sea diving robot discovered at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, sleep will be the last thing on your mind. Read more…

Read More:
Check Out the Seriously Gnarly Creatures Discovered at the Bottom of the Mariana Trench